摘要：今天的泛读文章谈及了考研英语中经常出现的一位艾萨克?牛顿爵士Sir Isaac Newton，文章独辟蹊径，认为真正的牛顿并不是理性时代的开国君...

　　Sir Isaac Newton built the edifice of modern science,formulate the laws of motion,discovered the law of gravity, and provided the framework through which the observations of Galileo Galilei and the planetary laws of Johannes Kepler could be understood. His experiments with sunlight and glass prisms and mirrors helped him understand the origin of colours. He invented calculus, independently of Gottfried Leibniz, feuding with him over who was first. And he was the first to postulate that the laws of physics would be the same all over the universe.

　　牛顿发现了万有引力，提出了运动定律，开创了现代科学的主要体系，很少有科学家能有如此的影响力。他提供的理论框架让开普勒的行星定律和伽利略的观察结果被人理解。此外，他还利用阳光、反射镜和玻璃棱镜做实验，从而使人们明白了色彩的由来。他独立于莱布尼兹发明了微积分，为谁是创始人产生争执。他还是第一个假设全宇宙遵循相同物理定律的人。

　　He had become President of the Royal Societyandwas interred in Westminster Abbey.Heleft more than 7m wordsand sheets of paper. There were also letters to other scholars, pages of derivations of mathematics and physics formulae, and copious writings on alchemy and religion. The solitary and eccentric Newton apparently saved everything he wrote. But he was reticent about publishing his work, fearing controversy and criticism.

　　牛顿曾就任于皇家学会担任会长，死后安葬在了Westminster Abbey。他身后留下了700多万字的笔记和手稿。这些文稿包含了他最辉煌的科学成就，以及写给其他学者的信件，推导数学和物理公式的草稿，甚至还有炼金术和宗教的论著。个性古怪的牛顿几乎保留了他写下的所有东西。但是他对于出版自己的著作颇为谨慎，担心外界的争议和批评。

　　The Newton that emerges from the manus is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemyandbelieved that the Bible contained numerological codes. The truth is that Newton was very much a product of his time. The colossus of science was not the first king of reason, Keynes wrote after reading Newton’s unpublished manus. Instead “he was the last of the magicians”.

　　我们从这些手稿当中看到的牛顿，并非众所周知的理性实践者，而是热衷于冷酷而纯粹的理性。这位现代科学的缔造者本人没有多少现代色彩。他痴迷于炼金术，相信圣经饱含命理的密码。实际上，牛顿更多地是他那个时代的产物。凯恩斯在阅读牛顿未出版的手稿后写道，这位科学巨人不是理性时代的开国君主，而是“最后的魔术师”。

　　通过这篇文章的泛读，希望2016考研的考生能对有关牛顿的常识有一个更加清楚的了解，因为泛读是对背景知识的必要补充，大家在忙于复习真题的同时，也要注意泛读的积累。预祝大家复习顺利，梦想成真。